May 11th - Tuesday (Mike & Marie-Eve)

Marie-Eve: Today I am feeling even sicker than yesterday. I have fever, chills (yes, even in this weather), back stomach cramps and spent last night throwing up and running to the “bathroom" trying not to pass out getting there. I'm so weak I could only take 5 steps and then had to put my head down so I would not pass out. My fever is high and it's hot so it's hard to sleep it off. The plan to stay hydrated does not work so well when you can’t keep anything down!!!! This is so frustrating because I wanted to go around and visit people in the town, but I just don’t have the energy. Mike went to “town” with Rick to do stuff, but I’ll let him tell you about it so LATER friends :)

Mike: Rick and I went to Singal, a town nearby to check out some land, as SAM (Strategic Africa Ministries, the organization we are with) would like to build a base somewhere out here in the very remote north. The town is slightly larger than the one we currently have camp setup at, maybe 1000 people live here in their huts. We look at a few flat areas for a potential landing strip, and than we make our way to the river to look at some old Portuguese buildings. There are 2 here, about half a mile apart, the first is extremely overgrown, and beyond repair. On the way to the 2nd, we walk past a handful of perfectly fine looking buildings that can’t be more than 10 years old, they have concrete walls, floors, doors, and a tin roof, but are empty.

Later on in town, we find out the government built them here a few years back for a project, but since the project ended, the building have been empty. We find the 2nd Portuguese home, and even through their are trees growing in basically every room, Rick figures it can be reconditioned, even if we would never do that at home, but because supplies are so short here, he figures it is worth it to start with something. It is very sad to see though, that his building has sat here empty, with nice concrete floors, walls, etc. for probably about 30 years and none of the locals have moved into it. Actually many of the towns on the way here have old remains of Portuguese buildings, but sadly they are always empty, as the people still see the building as the person’s who built it, even though they left Africa decades ago (and therefore can’t move in). This base would allow Rick to come here for a month to do a ministry training seminar each weekend for a month without running out of supplies, so it is exciting to see the potential for ministry of a place like this.

When we get back to the truck and started driving through town, we meet the government district leader. He is not happy with Rick, cause he should have asked his permission to be camping in his province. So, we go buy some bolo (deep-fried bread), and coke, and go to his house to smooth things over. Everything here is about positions of power, and people are very uneasy about people not respecting their position of power. While eating together, I ask him about his dreams for his province. He tells me he wants to see more irrigation, so that the people can produce much better crops, he also wants to see more people plant sugarcane, and finally, he asks Rick if he can help out with the 70 blind people in this one neighboring community. It was soo good to hear that this guy’s dreams and see how easily the church could partner with him on some of these things. I would love to see the church be intentional about partnering up with more people like this guy.